Sustainable Communities Initiative – Granite Grok

The answer, obviously if you had been paying attention, is “Yes!” (shades of SB11)

He keeps asking, so we keep answering. This week, Pindell finally gives an UP to the TEA Party movement, along with a question:

Tea Party: The decentralized movement got a new reason for being this week with the news the IRS was targeting them. Since they were proven right on this does it mean everyone needs to take Agenda 21 more seriously?

After all, there is a difference between being paranoid (which many have place the TEA Party because of our warning of an incipient Tyrannical Government) and being what our Founders instructed us to do: be vigilant. The problem is that while many Americans are familiar with Hard Tyranny in other countries (e.g., Soviet Union, Iran, third world countries with Strong Man despots masquerading as Democracies) they’re blinkered when it comes to Tyranny in other forms (i.e., the soft despostism of De Tocqueville moving onward to the medium Tyranny exemplified by Atlas Shrugged; good intentions that morph in to “you WILL do it because we know it is good for you”).

Much has happened with this IRS scandal – and it is becoming clear that the IRS has institutionalized an attitude that “we are above the law”. Combine that with a Big Bureaucracy, a Public Sector Union mentality, and almost unlimited Power, you have seen an extremely

Sidenote: YES, finally we see a real use for the word EXTREMISTS!

biased hierarchy willing to stomp on those that are perceived as a threat – not merely as a political one, but as an existential one. One that has to be stomp on and stomped out.

Guest Post by Ken Eyring: SB11 must be stopped

Update: I have been informed that this was written by Jane Aitkin of the NH TEA Party Coalition – I stand, corrected.

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Ever since Grokster Steve put up his post on SB11 whizzing through the NH Senate and the House Committee, there as been a lot of buzzing going on, and while it seems innocuous on the surface, there are a lot of deep down problems with this bill where the mischievous can go evil. One of THE experts (if not THE expert) on the Sustainable Communities Initiative being pushed by the Federal Government’s HUD (i.e., Federalizing local zoning ordinances) is Ken Eyring – here are his thoughts on this bill:

RED ALERT! SB 11 which passed the Senate, may affect YOUR WATER RIGHTS and will be voted on tomorrow in the full House.

BACKGROUND

In 2011 then Governor Lynch created the NH Water Sustainability Commission (WSC) by Executive Order. This UNELECTED group works alongside the Regional Planners, another UNELECTED GROUP, on the premise that water is a ‘limited resource’ in NH. We wrote about it in 2012. Note the use of the word ‘global’ which is a code word for control of all resources.

http://www.nhteapartycoalition.org/tea/2013/01/04/water-commission-report-is-must-read/

We all know that NH is a water-rich state and there is no water “crisis”. In fact, many of us are still cleaning up after 4 or 5 years of damages to our property due to too much water. Some NH counties were even declared a disaster area for those years.

Among the WSC’s recommendations and goals is to “enable legislation for regional cooperation”. Indeed one of the NH Association of Regional Planning Commission’s 2012-2013 Annual Legislative Action Priorities was: #12 – “Promote stormwater management efforts including public education and stormwater utility enabling legislation.” (As amended at the July 19, 2012 NHARPC Meeting) You can now see how RI residents were able to be subject to a tax levied on any water that runs off their driveways and rooftops!

Under the WSC category of “Storm Water Utilities” we find…

When It Rains it Pours

by Steve MacDonald

rain

As an after-thought to my post on SB 11 yesterday–which has stirred up some interest around the Grokosphere and well beyond–I went looking for some details about the environmentalist/regionalist motivations with regard to water and sewer. It is a huge subject many parts of which we’ve touched on at the Grok already; you might say the socialist/central planner/ enviro-crowd is all-in on controlling water as the next best means to controlling us; so I’ll focus on the one thing that caught my eye while surfing (ha!) for details on the latest progressive New Hampshire-bureaucratic water grab.

Granite State Future – Not really just “Advisory only”

We keep hearing from those that are in favor of Granite State Future (the NH version of the Federal Government’s “Sustainable Communities Initiative” pushed by the EPA, HUD, and DOT that aims to Federalize our local homegrown zoning regs so “we can live better) that is is merely advisory. Just hints, directions, guidance – take … Read more

NHListens – the non-profit FOR the sustainable Granite State Future plan which HATES our NH environment!

Or for another take, this subtitle: NHListens – the “Run Away!” edition!

Gosh, and last week was JUST.SO.MUCH.FUN! So this week was supposed to be the next one in the North Country series of “listening” sessions. Get out of work on time (and an unexpected “happening”)? Yup – Check! Good weather? Snow? Rain? Fire? Raining frogs (or other Biblical disasters)? Nope – Check! Heavy traffic, mechanical breakdown, gas in the tank and a Mikey D’s drive by? GPS loaded and locked in? Yup – Check! Arrive on time? Yup – Check! Go to the door and let myself in?

SCREEETCH (think: fingernails on a blackboard)! Er, nope. Anyways, this is the notice they left on the door of the Littleton Senior Center.:

Well, it was supposed to be such – there was a sizable number of folks that drove up north – just THINK of all that horrible CO2 that was emitted by fossil fueled conveyances for naught simply because NHListens couldn’t, well, listen. Isn’t that contrary to their whole notion of living ONLY in walkable cities – to NOT emit that evil gas that comes out of your mouth after every breath (btw, have you seen that the Earth is now the greenist in a long, long time with all of the new vegetation that is sprouting up?).

I guess that they weren’t all that happy that people showed up to their last session in Plymouth (and earlier) who expressed ideas contrary to the goals of the Granite State Future program (Heavens – people have been caught quoting the NH and US Constitutions! Totally unfair of them to be quoting the REAL Social Contract(s) of America!). Their actions (“La-La-La-La can’t hear you!”) reminded me of this:

GovernmentOversite: NHListens / Granite State Future – another viewpoint

Both the ‘Grok and GovernmentOversite went to the same event last week: a “listening” session conducted by NHListens (an offsoot of the Carsey Institute at UNH, where “Carsey” is the uber-Progressive TV producer, Marsey Carsey). Here is the video that ‘Grok friend Ed over at put together over at GovernmentOversite (a mashup of some of the activity at the meeting with micro-interviews with Tim Carter of the Lakes Region TEA Party included (emphasis mine):

Read this before viewing: There are Nine Regional Planning Commissions within the State of New Hampshire. The Commissions were created by the Legislature and are given the task to create a regional master plan, a housing needs assessment and to assist towns in land use planning. They also derive most of their funding from the Federal Government. A smaller percentage comes from monies that are paid to it in the form of membership dues. The Nashua Regional planning commission applied for a planning grant offered by HUD, Housing and Urban Development, EPA Environmental Protection Agency and the DOT Department of Transportation. The planning grant is under the Federal Sustainable Communities Initiative. The initiatives primary goal is to support international agreements that incorporate “Sustainable Development” into local land use planning.The most commonly accepted formal definition of sustainable development is taken from Our Common Future, the landmark 1987 report of The World Commission on Environment and Development. Chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland and is the base document promoting the agreement known as Agenda 21, an action to be taken by member states of the United Nations to control all aspects where humans have an effect on the environment.

In New Hampshire the Sustainable Communities Initiative has been given the name, The Granite State Future…

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Wrapup

The last of the NHListens session at the Plymouth Senior Center on behalf of the Granite State Future plan, which is the local instance of the Federal Government’s way to Federalize local zoning codes via bribing us with our own money as the HUD / EPA / DOT throws money (with strings attached via the “Sustainable Communities Initiative” program) at the nine Regional Planning Commissions around the State. Here’s the video:

Circle “AAAA”:

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Parts 10 and 11

Pretty much more of the same – Part 10:

Business startup issues: ease of startup credit, banking issues / regulation (to customers, on themselves), reduce barriers to entry,
Train the workforce – not to be the cogs in a machine but to design that machine, teach them to be entrepreneurs
You should be willing to pay more to a local store to have a local economy and support it.

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Parts 8 and 9

And we start right in with Part 8:

continuing on the economy was a lady that asked the question “what is the next thing?” as if an entire State’s economy could be planned to succeed. An older gentleman answered but I could not hear what he said,but true to form, The Enforcer went right after that.
One of the gentleman wanted to start a new business in NH but is hesitant due to the costs and regulatory headaches.
Two warring ideologies in the State: *I* built that vs Warrenism – “You didn’t build that” – is it individual effort or is it a community effort?

Part 9:

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 6 and 7

“…who controls the natural resources and are they privately owned or a community resource?“

What have we learned so far as we get ready for Parts 6 and 7 of the NHListens session at the ~~Meredith~~ Plymouth Senior Center this past Thursday? Seems like listening isn’t what it used to be, I guess – especially if the circle is stacked. Again “and remember that number 10!“. If you start with 10 seats and

A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels
The “Enforcer” – tasked with being the person who would argue with anyone that was challenging the narrative.
The Enabler(s) – those folks that dribble in “talking points” during the discussion usually at the most opportune times to be “slick and smooth”

five of them are seemingly “in” on it, it tends to drown out what seems to be the REAL disenfranchised citizens in all this. Five seats taken in a 10 person?

There certainly were the advocates for the poor and for organizing as John Krebs said in the Intro:

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “AAAA”

Well, during the recording of circle “BBBB”, I bet you’ve noticed that, on occasion, I panned over to one of the other groups. Primary reason? Well, the Scribe over there was writing a whole bunch more than this group (including when Tim Carter got up, walked to the front of the group to explain to the Scribe that her notes needed updating as she “missed” an important part (i.e., that verbiage said during the conversation that mentioned “NH’s strong believe in private property is a barrier to the aims of the Granite State Future plan” was completely left off the easel). So, I asked Molly, if I could set up another camera to cover group “AAAA” easel due to its activity – and she agreed.

Why? An experiment – knowing I was over in one place, I wanted to see if anything would keep this camera from seeing the easel at any time. And yes, when I got to the end of watching the entire thing, I was not surprised to see how things turned out:

The Scribe who had been standing to the side during the time before the camera was set up adjusted her behavior to mostly stand in front of it. Sure, it blocked the camera view but I also thought it rude for that circle’s attendees as there was little opportunity for them to look up and see what was going on.
Even as Molly agreed to the camera, she blocked it a couple / few times.
At one point, the camera itself was moved

Flashlights, I guess, are not well loved. All that said, I was surprised to see that the same roles I identified over at Circle “BBBB” were replicated in this circle as well. Now, I thought that it was happening, as during the event, I could actually hear some of the discussions happening over there even as I was engrossed over here (imagine that even in my middle aged state of being, I can still multi-task (sorta)). So instead of perhaps having to eat crow, it reinforced what I saw in circle “BBBB”. Once again I will state – if I had been a participant, I would not have seen the pattern. Observing it once was enough and twice was confirmation.

Warning – the audio is extremely pour – if a shotgun mic isn’t going to make sense of this noise in the room, a simple FlipCam mic is not going to rise and jump over that bar…and it is an hour and twenty minutes long. So I listened for you:

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 4 and 5

Continuing on from Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the NHListens “visioning” meeting at the ~~Meredith~~ Plymouth Senior Center (NH). Thus far, the important takeaways that I have observed thus far:

A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels
The “Enforcer” – tasked with being the person who would argue with anyone that was challenging the narrative.

and a new one to add:

The Enabler(s) – those folks that dribble in “talking points” during the discussion usually at the most opportune times to be “slick and smooth”

This seemed to emerge in Part 3 (2 minute mark) when Susan started in on talking about Smart Growth principles, caught herself, and started to label them as if they were traditional New Hamspshire ones (instead of being cooked up by “Planners” that know better then we how and where we should live – certainly NOT a Live Free or Die Sentiment, or a Liberty & Freedom one either). So, let’s return to my phrase: “and remember that number 10!“. Next up is Part 4 which starts to show another dynamic right off the bat – those that are perfectly fine with a forced collectivism concerning land use, community priorities, taxes, and services, and those that believe that the voters have things right:

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 1, 2, & 3

After talking with Tim Carter of the Lakes Region TEA Party and listening to the Intro remarks by John Krebs and Molly Donovan, it was time to start observing “how” the “what” was going to happen. As I said in the Intro post, I was not there to participate but to merely observe. To recap some of what I had observed thus far:

A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels

The meeting lasted just about two hours so there is a lot of video. Again, I apologize for the relatively low sound quality (even though I was using a shotgun mic that is supposed to mitigate that – sometimes room acoustics trump technology. I’ll have a few more observations from observing NOT just the circle that I chose to record (circle “BBBB”), but another one as well (to be explained later). Now to be sure, NONE of the segment / clips are NOT what I would call riveting and jaw dropping excitement video – in fact, they are rather boring if you are expecting “gotcha” moments. However, I did see some rather interesting dynamics being played out – not only in how each small group was run (and make no mistake – by the end of the evening, it became VERY clear that these were not just simple listening session) but the dynamics between the two poles of the culture / political worlds too. First Segment here with two more after the jump – and yes, there will be more posts with more later as well as a single post on the other circle I “observed after the fact”. Each of these 3 three videos runs about 9 to 10 minutes; here is Part 1:

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Intro

Well, after running into Tim Carter at the Meredith (NH) Senior Center for the latest NHListens versioning of what our “collective future” is supposed to be with respect to the Granite State Future collectivist Utopia (after all, once taxes are used to socially engineer our behavior in our living conditions, our living standards, the modes of transportation that are allowed, we are no longer free but live solely at the mercy of others planning our lives – like that has worked out so well in other countries?). Well, after I got done interviewing Tim, I went on inside.

Anyways, back to describing how this “listening” session would work:

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – MicroInterview with Tim Carter

This past Thursday, the Granite State Future project (the project that the Federal Departments of HUD, EPA, and DOT are using locally to Federalize the local zoning codes here in NH via their “Sustainable Communities Initiative”). The “purpose” is ostensibly to “listen” to the public and get their input as to what the future of … Read more

Belknap County Republican Committee (3/13/13) – Tim Carter, Lakes Region TEA Party

Well, let’s see if I remember HOW to blog – it’s been a bit as I’ve been out straight since this past Sunday with events or tasks to attend to each and every night. Lots of video to put up and other stuff to catch up on, and this is one of the first ones. Wednesday was the regular monthly meeting of the Belknap County Republicans and the new NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn was the featured speaker. While we did endorse her rival for the position, we’ve been waiting to see how she starts her term. So far, not bad – especially with this. However, that set of videos (a lively set of questions happened after her talk) will have to wait – there was another speaker that spoke before her. To set the table, from the NH GOP Platform: Oppose laws and programs contrary to our founding principles such as Sharia Law, the International Baccalaureate Program, UN Agenda 21 or other “sustainable development” programs

Since the inception of the TEA Party movement, there has been an uneasy tension between the TEA Party and the GOP as the former has seen the latter as complicit in the mess that the Country finds itself even as it sees the GOP Platform (it’s “supposed” beliefs, but more on that later) close to the TEA Party philosophy than the Dems. On the flip side, the Establishment Republicans see the TEA Partiers as a threat to their stranglehold on political power on the Right (as we watch this play out in DC right now). But there are times that things mesh – as the quote from the NH GOP Platform indicates. Tim Carter from Lakes Region TEA Party was allowed to speak to the full room quickly on the Federal Government over reach to Federalize local NH zoning codes in the form of HUD / EPA / DOT’s Sustainable Communities Initiative – otherwise known locally as Granite State Future (why can’t Progressives ever use the plain truth for their programs? Is it because they KNOW people would reject them out of hand if, you know, they actually were truthful and honest about what they were doing?):

More later on today on this topic. Intro from the meeting after the jump.

Sustainable Communities Initiative (the Federalization of local zoning codes): Lakes Region Planning Commission Meeting

Yes, the unelected, unaccountable and mostly self-funding (multiple taxpayer teats at the ready) group of Commissions that started off doing road planning between neighboring towns – and suddenly, are experts in such varied things as Economic Development to Broadband Deployment in just a few short millions of dollars grants-writing. And now that THAT information is getting out (much to the dismay of paid shills like NHListens (here, here, here, here, sorta here, here) who “facilitate” meetings (and their outcomes) and their propagandists like Action Media (“to neutralize the opposition“)), they are not grooving at ALL that they are no longer being allowed to do their work out of the light of Citizen Flashlights…

…like here, where one of the taxpayer funded presenters, trying to sugercoat the “wassup!”, decided to diss ‘Grok friend Ed from GovernmentOversite (who wields a big Citizen Flashlight indeed). Diss? Er, well, object to the camera being present AND rolling – watch for yourself:

Lesson to the yet-to-be-PR-wise: holding up the yellow lined notepad makes you a bigger target and a more interesting subject to watch. And, as my 1 year old granddaughter will soon learn, blocking the camera lens with said notepad will not automatically make you invisible (something that the 1 year old is already learning, except she just uses her forearm to cover her eyes to make herself invisible to everyone else).

But I digress – here are some of the notes Ed took (emphasis mine, a bit of reformatting, and commenting on the notes on what these Planners really want to do [er, the Ed’s Notes are great and are NOT the target of the snark – the reason why the Notes had to be done is):

Lakes Region TEA Party – tomorrow; Moultonboro Public Library at 7:00 p.m.

The next meeting of the Lakes Region Tea Party will be Wednesday, February 20 at the Moultonboro Public Library at 7:00 p.m. Main Topic: Granite State Future Facts Discover the real facts about this onerous top-down HUD Sustainable Communities Initiative that aims to give local planning control to the Federal Government. Presentation led by Tim … Read more

Runs like a Deere….no thanks to a sniveling Lowe’s

I still miss the ole’ Suburban. What’s not to like about a land yacht that had a really nice comfy bench seat in the front where TMEW would sit right next to me, a long wheel base to smooth out the bumps, 4wd to take care of the ravine that one must pass to get to Murphy Manse (a H/T to DCE from Weekend Pundit calls his home), and was plenty big to haul all the stuff that our daycare center needed (at the time). Plus it was always great to move snow with its plow as I stayed warm in the cab, listening to conservative talk radio and a Mtn Dew in the cup holder.

No matter who you looked at it, it was a vehicle that stuck a stick in Liberal and Enviro’s eyeballs. Why do I say that? Remember, they were complaining that NO ONE needed such a large SUV – they hated the idea of big “wasteful” cars that only single folks rode in – a CRIME against not only GAIA but also a crime against all those other folks “less fortunate” to only drive dinky cars. Yes folks, the “gun on four wheels” of its day. But, thanks to Socialist Enviro Lisa Jackson (about to be former EPA head) and Secretary of Transportation “Republican” Ray LaHood

Sidenote: you know, I did a post about NH GOP Greg Carson who all but has claimed that ANY person with an R next to their name was a GOOD Republican, as it helped the Party to gain Party; I need to return to the next installment of that thought process – after all, LaHood DOES have great power as Obama’s DOT Secretary – how’s THAT working out for us Liberty loving Republicans, eh Greg? Especially as you are the point person for the Federal push, via the EPA, HUD (your department), and DOT to Federalize local New Hampshire communities’s zoning laws with the ill-named and worse intended result than the “Sustainable Communities Initiative”.

they’ve pretty much decided that Americans (if they can afford the newer regulation laden results) will only be able to drive tin cans that will be hard pressed to carry a grocery bag for cargo because of a doubling of the CAFE standards. SURE, it’s gonna save us money in the long run – when have we heard THAT promise before (like with compact flourescent bulbs that have turned out to be a bust?). But I digress.

GrokTV – Panel Discussion: Making your vote count – Q&A Part 2

Continuing on with the Q & A session from yesterday’s Panel Discussion:

Request to GraniteGrok: can you do some video lessons on how to do”voting stuff”?
Frustration with the NH GOP
Losing the vote due to the culture in the Government schools
A shoutout to GovernmentOversite.com which is doing yeoman’s work on covering the Federal Government’s push to federalize local zoning ordinances (being pushed here in NH by NH GOP Secretary, Greg Carson (head honcho in HUD – see above “Frustration with the NH GOP)

“Grok, help us! Frustration with NH GOP